0, 1 and *

[NIIBE Yutaka]

Hello, Rainer,

I write this message to you and the Verein mailing list, in a style of
personal communication, to express my gratitude for your start of
working GnuPG e.V.  Thank you.

That's because... it would be good for every member to write something,
explaining his activity to the list, not much, but once a year.  Follow
me, if you like.

Well, I should have said you earlier, "Welcome to GnuPG e.V.!".

Yesterday, I got a postcard from you.  It's a postcard of Freie Software
Freunde e.V., having a phrase:

	Freedom is more than just 0 and 1

I like it.

And on the way back to my hotel, I came up with an idea to express
my activities by the expression:

	0, 1 and *

So, here is a kind of self introduction of mine, by the expression,
in the reverse order.


"*" stands for all.  In command line interface, as you know, typing

	$ touch *

can update timestamps of all files under the directory.  (And I'm happy
I can touch my friends at FOSDEM.)  In my activities, * means free
software movement, like GNU Project and Debian Project, where we believe
everyone deserves computing freedom.  Free Software is for all.


"1" stands for individual, or personal computing and privacy.  On
Friday, I showed you my Gnuk Token, the device where I store my private
key.  It is no one but only the particular user who should has control
over his own private key.  I develop software and hardware for this
purpose.  Software part is called "Gnuk".  Hardware design and hardware
itself is called "FST-01", "FST-01G", and "FST-01SZ".  I call the device
(hardware + software): Gnuk Token.  FST-01SZ is an abbreviation of
Flying Stone Tiny Zero-One ShenZhen.  "Flying Stone" is my business
name, which I registered at the tax agency.  And ShenZhen is a city in
China, where many young engineers work for electronics.  FST-01 series
are built in ShenZhen.  The newest version, FST-01SZ, specifically uses
Chinese unique things (chip, connector, and the form factor), thus, I
put the SZ suffix.  I plan to sell FST-01SZ together with a metal case.


"0" stands for nobody.  I develop NeuG, a true random number generator
implementation.  NeuG means software implementation, but also it can
mean a device running NeuG.  In fact, FST-01SZ is distributed as a NeuG
device; It's a user who installs Gnuk to FST-01SZ to be Gnuk Token.
Random number generation is so important for cryptography to have a
secrecy.  The generation of the random sequence should be controled by
nobody, while the mechanism should be transparent.  For example, when an
engineer of the device can control the generation somehow, users'
privacy is under threat of being taken.  So, "nobody" is important here.
I have been working hard, so that nobody (including me and manufacturer)
can predict the sequence the device generates.


Well, since it sounds good, I will use the expresson of "0, 1 and *" in
my talk today.  Thank you for the postcard to give me this opportunity.


I hope you enjoy chinese cookies I brought from Hong Kong.

That's for 2019,
--